While most
foreigners associate Komsomolsk-na-Amure (Komsomolsk on Amur) with Sukhoi
aircraft, many in the Russian Far East have unfairly tagged the city as
dangerous because of heightened criminal activity there in the late 1990s. But
this peaceful city of 300,000, built in 1932, is a pleasant place to be in and
is a surviving example of the pre-Second World War Soviet
dream.

Komsomolsk-na-Amure
(City of Youth) was built in what looks like middle of nowhere, and like
Sakhalin and Vladivostok, was off limits to foreigners and outsiders until the
collapse of the USSR. The city is on the Baikal-Amur Main (BAM) railway line,
which connects the Russian Far East to Eastern Siberia and runs north of and
parallel to the Trans-Siberian railway. A short train ride to Tynda, the
headquarters of the BAM railway, would take just 37 hours! Built primarily to
be an industrial centre, Komsomolsk has steelworks, a ship-building yard as
well as the Sukhoi aircraft factory.

Although
the city isn’t bursting with pubs, restaurants and night-clubs, there is no
shortage of things to do in any season. For a real adventure, visit the city in
the winter to experience -43 degree Celsius weather in real life. The buildings
are warm, the snow is beautiful and the vodka flows. Winter is also the best
time for star-gazing in the city, with a vista that can challenge the most
starlit of southern skies. With the Amur River’s top layers freezing over, a
common sight is what’s popularly called ‘penguins.’ Fishermen set up shop on
the wide river and actually look like the Antarctic flightless birds from a
distance.

Winter is
also a great time to try one’s hands at mountain skiing. A two-hour drive away
from the city, Lake Amut is one of the best ski resorts in the Russian Far
East. By mid-December, there is enough snow to ski or sled or snowboard on the
hills surrounding the lake. For those not much into adventure sports, there are
several beautiful walking trails in the area and the resort has a nice cafe to
just soak in the atmosphere. Amut is also an ideal place to trek and camp from
May till October. The lake is warm enough to swim in the summer months as well
as during the ‘Indian Summer’ of the Russian Far East in September.

The city is
not as compact as Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk but is just a fraction of the size of
Khabarovsk, which is about 300 kilometres to the south. Rickety trams connect
the riverside with most parts of the city. What’s striking about Komsomolsk is
the lack of vehicles on the roads. In the winters, pedestrians directly walk on
the roads as the ice piles up on the sidewalks.

Komsomolsk
possesses the essentials of every Soviet town such as a public sauna and
swimming pool, parks and several monuments dedicated to those who gave up their
lives to defend the country, but despite the city’s isolation, there is a great
interest in foreign cultures. A Buddhist monk from Denmark helped set up a
Mahayana Buddhist centre in the city, which is popular among a large section of
the youth. Komsomolsk also has a cinema hall that showcases international
non-commercial films. Of course, 7 decades of isolation and a location well off
the beaten track, may make the sight of a visible foreigner a bit more than
what many locals can handle. But it’s more curiosity than suspicion driving the
locals and the warmth and hospitality in the city remain unparalleled.

Video by Konstantin Remennikov

The
uniqueness stretches across many attractions in the city. It’s a well-known
fact that every city in Russia has a World War 2 memorial, but Komsomolsk is
the only city with a Japanese Prisoner of War Memorial. The regional museum
showcases the history of the city and has exhibits dating back to the
construction of the city, including rare photographs of the swamps that existed
before Komsomolsk was built.

The
authorities in this “city of the youth” have taken special care to maintain the
1930s cream-coloured buildings, which also contain Soviet mosaics. Like most
Soviet cities, there is a Lenin Square in the city centre but hovering over the
former revolutionary is a unique piece of architecture. The dom-sa-spilom
(literally translated as building with a spire) has been compared to the
Stalin-era 7 sisters’ buildings in Moscow as well as the Kremlin. Some call the
building the Komsomolsk Kremlin. Most long distance buses culminate their
journey near the square, so this beautiful peach building greets visitors to
the city.

There is
also a special treat for history-lovers in Komsomolsk. The ambience of
yesteryear is preserved in some of the city’s hotels. Fans of the USSR must
stay in a hotel called Khrushchev’s Dacha, which was built for Nikita
Khrushchev’s visit in the 1950s. The main suite in the villa was used by
Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev. The suite can by no means be
considered budget accommodation, but there are few places on that earth that
were used by heads of a superpower that would cost just over a hundred dollars
per night. There’s also the charming Hotel Amur, which is as old as the city, but
has bright and renovated rooms with a view.

For those
interested in the culture of Russia’s indigenous tribes, the Nanai people, who
were the original residents of the area welcome visitors to their settlement of
Nizhny Khlabny. A few tour operators in Komsomolsk offer an overnight tour to
the settlement, where there’s a cooperative market that sells handicrafts made
by Nanai women.

Komsomolsk-na-Amure,
despite the isolation, is a good transit point for many interesting places in
the region. Nikolayevsk-na-Amure, which is 12 hours north, is an interesting
town at the mouth of the Amur River and the Tatar Straits. It was from this
city that convicts were shipped to Sakhalin during Czarist times. Komsomolsk is
also close to Vanino, from where there is a daily ferry service to Kholmsk in
Sakhalin. Given the vast distances in the region, Khabarovsk is considered
close to Komsomolsk, since it “just takes” 6 hours by bus. The BAM railway line
also offers spectacular scenery and the long train ride to Tynda may be a good
alternative to the Trans-Siberian.

Whether
it’s ice-fishing in winter or getting a tan on a hot July day by the Amur, or
trekking in the hills on an autumn afternoon, Komsomolsk-na-Amure is one city
in the Russian Far East that promises an abundance of activities all
year-round. And despite different developmental patterns in other big cities in
the region, Komsomolsk maintains its unique Sovietness.